Awww it seems I lost readers? T_T So little comments. Of course, I'm grateful whole-heartedly for the ones I have gotten XD However, if there's any dissatisfaction with the story, don't hold back and tell me, ok? T_T I don't mind if the comments are a bit harsh, as lack of feedback is much worse for me D: 

"D-D.O.?!" I called out, my eyes wide as saucers. "Where are the other guys? Where's the guard? Are you all okay? And out of all people, what in the world are you doing here?" I added skeptically.
D.O. gasped.
"What? I'll take that as an insult! To think that I came to your rescue and you act like I'm not good enough?"
"It's not that, but... correct me if I'm wrong, which I'm not, but I was under the impression that you weren't the type of person to take action and get involved in, uh... risky situations."
"Unfortunately, you're not wrong," he rolled his eyes. "But thanks to someone, things have changed recently, haven't they?" he punched my shoulder playfully. I wasn't sure if blaming this on me was supposed to be an insult or a way of thanking me, so I just let it slip. I smiled.
"How did you get this?" I pointed to his mask.
"That Daehyun kid kindly gave it to us," he shrugged.
"Willingly?" my jaw fell open. "He would barely even dare look me in the eye and he gave you his stuff for free?"
"It took a bit of convincing from Tao, but we managed to persuade him to cooperate with our plan," he waved his hand nonchalantly. Wushu Tao? Ah. Threats. It made sense.
"Now, if you excuse me," he slightly pulled me over to the side, then knelt down on the dusty floor. He pressed his ears against the tiles, knocking onto them delicately with his knuckles.
"What are you doing?" I whispered, curious.
"Quiet."
He continued with his odd ritual while I stared at him, impatient.
"What are you listening for?" I asked after a second. At that moment, when he knocked onto a tile, I heard a barely-audible crack.
"This," he smiled and pulled his arm back. Then, with all his strength, he punched the tile with his fist. I yelped in surprise - a punch like that would have broken anybody's hand. But D.O. just stood up with a smile, crossing his totally healthy arms on his chest. He gazed down into the hole before him.
The tiles split into tiny pieces and the floor caved in. Below us, in the middle of my cell, was a tunnel, about 5 feet deep, and who knows how long. Small torches were attached along its earthy walls, lighting up the way.
"Whoa," I gulped. "That's random."
"I've worked on it for hours, so you better appreciate it," he winked, and it was the first time that I saw him so happy and proud. I couldn't believe it. Not only was D.O. using his powers like our lives depended on them (which they did, but that didn't stop him from refraining from the usage before!), but he actually managed to stand up to the creeper scientists and go through all this trouble? How was that even possible? I understood that the cameras weren't working, but wouldn't Dr. Kim have people watching the guys to make sure something like this wouldn't happen?
"How in the world-" I started, but he interrupted, "Not now. No time. I had to come in through the main entrance to pick up the keys to your handcuffs on the way, but this is our safest way out. I don't think the army of evil maniacs can be held back for much longer."
"By evil maniacs, do you mean Kim and his people, or Chanyeo-"
"Dr. Kim, for crying out loud, and would you get into the tunnel? We have to get outside," D.O. rolled his eyes, going back to his worried and panicking self.
"Ladies first," I scoffed, motioning for him to get in. He rolled his eyes but did so, then helped me step down. We ran along the corridor ("Has this fantasy crap gone too far into your brain?! We're not hobbits!", "Shut it, it took me forever just to make the tunnel 5 feet in diameter, geez!") bent in half, but fortunately soon enough we reached the end. D.O. climbed up first, then pulled me out. We were standing in the huge yard between the castle and the ranch house. And the place was a mess.
First thing I saw, were at least three bodies in ugly green suits propped up against a tree at the edge of the forest. I couldn't tell whether they were dead or just unconscious, but I decided not to ask, afraid of the answer. Besides, I was scared that if I opened my mouth, I might puke. I also noticed that the top floor of the ranch house was completely gone and the second floor was left roofless. I still couldn't wrap my mind around the fact that it was my fault. There were voices screaming from both the mansion and the scientists' house, but I couldn't tell what they were saying. I could tell though, that they sounded distressed.

Next to me were Xiumin and Lay. The moment I looked away from the bodies, Lay asked me quietly if I was hurt anywhere, but I shook my head. My body ached a little bit and my wrists hurt from the handcuffs, but I doubted he'd be able to heal them, as they weren't really visible wounds. Xiumin held his palm open above the tunnel exit and it quickly froze over with ice.
"Well, whoever was following you guys, better stay inside," he said with a little smile. "Good to have you back, Romi," he added, flashing his teeth.
They didn't care about me? Yeah, right. In your face, Dr. Kim.
"Where are the others?" I asked.
"The scientists? On their way here, ready to rip our throats out," D.O. shrugged. Not what I meant, but it only made my question more desperate for good news.
"I meant the other guys. Kris, Suho, and the others," I gulped. "Are they alright?"

"Let's hope so," Xiumin's forehead creased with worry.

"Hunhan are destroying the ranch house while Baekyeol and Kai are busy wreaking havoc in the castle," Lay explained quickly and I tried to focus on the deathly situation at hand instead of commenting on his shortcuts/nicknames.
"Why, may I ask?" my voice rose slightly, which was very unlike me. I hated the idea of them separating. "Why are they not here, waiting?! Why would they want to provoke those idiots even more and attack them?!"
"Romi," D.O. spun me around to look at him and shook my shoulders gently. "Calm down, first of all. You losing your temper already got you into enough trouble, don't you think?"

I wanted to forget that he had just saved my life and push him, but I couldn't get myself to do it. Instead, I took a deep breath and looked at Xiumin, hoping he'd make sense.
"We concluded... it's the best way to do things," Xiumin said with sadness in his voice.
"What do you mean?"
"We have to ruin this place. Shred it to bits. Give those bastards a lesson, to ensure that this sort of thing doesn't happen with the next generations," Lay told me. "You get that, don't you?"

I slowly nodded, before realizing what that really meant.

"But that means we have to fight," I mumbled. They only nodded in response, and I felt another wave of anger. "And kill."
"In some cases it might be inevitable," D.O. agreed. "But hopefully they'll give in."
"AFTER GIVING AWAY THEIR WHOLE LIVES TO EXPERIMENT ON CHILDREN?! ARE YOU FREAKING KIDDING ME?! THEY WON'T GIVE UP!" I exploded.
D.O. grew pale and he pulled me towards him, cupping a hand over my mouth.
"Stop it! You have to relax," he hissed.

Oh, yeah. Just relax Romi, you can't kill people well if you don't relax. Thanks for the tip, stupid Donut Owl.

"Where's Suho?" I growled, ripping his hand away from my face. "Maybe at least he could talk some sense into you."
"He's getting us a ride," Lay answered.

"A ride to where? Do you think we'll be done here anytime soon?" I scoffed.
"For now, we'll deal as much damage as we can. But notice, we'll get tired soon, considering how much energy our powers use up. We'll have to run and recover before coming back to finish the job here. I mean, we need rest too. We're only human," he shrugged and if I didn't have so much respect for Lay, I would have slammed a fist into his face for the poor choice of words. Human. You wish, I thought. And so do I.

Just then, a voice called behind me,"Judging by the size of this forest, there's about an hour-long ride from here to town, if Suho won't be too chicken to go over the freaking speed limit," Kris said casually. I gaped at him.

"Where the heck did you come from?" I gasped and he pointed at the sky with a smirk playing on his lips. I looked at him in disbelief.

"What? After two weeks, you thought I wouldn't be able to at least fly up to the treetops? Thanks for having faith in me, teammate," he scoffed, then glared at D.O. "What are you doing here? You were supposed to go help in the castle. Didn't Sehun go to get her?" he asked, clearly frustrated that D.O. dared challenge his authority.
"I switched with him," D.O. shrugged.
"But I told you to go and fight! Do you know the strength of your own abilities?!" Kris scowled at him.
"Yeah, I do, but I also know Sehun's. Chill, Kris. I'm sure he's alright."
"It's not like I'm worried about him," Kris looked to the side with a frown, but it was way too obvious that he was indeed worried. "I just don't want anyone to screw up this well-thought-out plan."
I made a mental note to myself to go with Suho's plans next time.
"Well, Sehun didn't mind helping Romi, but he insisted that Luhan goes with him, which Luhan couldn't agree to. So I gladly volunteered to go get her instead."
"Are they going to come out soon?" I asked nervously. "What if they got hurt..."

"They're doing what they can to carry out their mission," Kris said with a straight face. At that moment, we heard a gunshot and a wooden chair flew out of the house's second story window, landing several meters away from us.
"Their mission, my ! We should be helping them!" I yelled, tears in my eyes. "Why are the scientists not here yet? If they're not coming, doesn't that mean that they're all ganging up on the other five, who are risking their lives right now?!" I yelled. I couldn't believe the four of them were just standing here calmly in this situation. I might have a tendency to overreact, but there is no way any human being should be able to take this kind of pressure so emotionlessly. Human being. Oh, here I go again. Somehow the realization nags on me more and more, the closer I am to exploding.
"When I went down through the cellars to get you, they were locking things down and searching for weapons that you didn't pull apart with that black hole of yours," D.O. eyed me. "They'll come when they're ready to face us."
Just then, with a screech of tires, a black van stopped next to us. Suho and Chen climbed out of the car, fear written all over their faces.
"They have a pretty damn big collection of weapons in the garage," Suho said, pulling me into a hug without as much as a hello. Then, he let me go and said with a dry smile, "But we ran them over a couple of times so I don't think they'll be very efficient."
"Suho," I begged, hoping he'd be smarter than the others. "Let's go inside. They need our help," my voice shook. At that moment, a loud scream reached us from the castle. It sounded a suspicious lot like Bacon. "PLEASE," I urged, grabbing his arms. He pulled them off, his lips pursed.
"I'd like to, Romi. But some of us have to stay here in case they come back."
IN CASE they come back?! WHAT THE...

Suddenly, Kai's figure popped in between us. We stumbled backwards and he knelt down, trying to catch his breath. One of his shoes was on fire and he cursed. Suho pointed at it and water shot out of his hand, putting out the flames. Kai stood up, wiping sweat from his forehead. I gasped. His bottom lips was split and bleeding, his left cheek swollen dramatically.
"Oh my God, Kai-" I started, but he interrupted, "Baekhyun is hurt."
My heart sank.
"B-bacon is..."

"He's breathing, but he's unconscious. Lay, hurry," Kai gave him a begging look. Lay nodded.
"Can we teleport back into the castle?" he asked, but Kai shook his head.

"I tried bringing Baekhyun here. I can't take another person with me... not yet, anyway. I don't know how to. We have to run back in, through the guards by the entrance."
"There are guards by the entrance?" my eyes grew. "But you two can't even fight! You don't have powers like that! How can you make it past them?!"
For the first time, Kai acknowledged me, and he did so with a smile.
"Come on, Romi. What do you think I was doing in there in the first place? One doesn't need super powers to put up a good fight," he said. The smile was barely visible on his lips, but I could tell it was sincere. He was trying to reassure me that they'd be safe. And so, I let them go towards the mansion together.
 

But the moment they disappeared behind the huge door, I regretted it.
"S-suho. Kris can stay here and wait. We really should go in," I told him. He just looked away.
"What, why me?" Kris asked. "For your information, I can fight very well, like Kai! If not better!"
I totally lost it. I decided not to hit any of them and save my energy for those who could be dying for us right now. I spun around and dashed towards the castle. Before I could get halfway across the lawn, however, a group of hands grabbed me and pinned me to the ground. I started fighting with them, anger embracing me from head to toe. I thrashed and kicked and yelped, but they just pressed me harder to the cold grass. Tears were streaming down my cheeks, and I couldn't see properly.

"Get it together, woman! How do you expect to be of any use when you're acting like this?!" Kris hollered.
"I can do it!" I sobbed. "They need my help! I want to help them... I have to... they're my friends..."
I felt a freezing hand on my cheek. For a moment the cold was so painful, I thought someone had slapped me and I stopped fighting in shock. But when I looked around, I realized that it was Xiumin, holding his hand pressed against my face. I felt shivers go down my spine.
"Why'd you do that?!" I snapped. "You're cold!"
"Well, no kidding, that's kind of the point," he said softly.
"Thank you for pulling her senses together," D.O. nodded at him, then glared at me. "Are you going to stop?" he asked me, a strong look of disapproval on his face.

"Why won't you let me go? Am I not strong enough?" I asked quietly. I couldn't hide it, I was ashamed of myself, when I realized what had just happened. I didn't freaking belong here. I belonged in an asylum for crazy people.
"You are strong enough," Chen said quietly. I looked from at him, then the others, and saw Kris and Suho exchange glances.
"Too strong," Kris agreed after a moment. "Much too strong."
Oh. So that's how it was.
I couldn't believe it. After all the trust talk we did, my friends were scared that I would kill them.